Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero Review

This one is only for the hard-core MK fans who don't already own PlayStations.

The Mortal Kombat series has always been fairly story-oriented. The series' storyline was augmented through the MK movie, and to a lesser extent, the MK cartoon. Mortal Kombat Mythologies sets out to further enrich the series' plot by narrowing the focus down to one character. The first (hopefully of many) MKM game focuses on Sub-Zero, and it details his past with Scorpion and how he eventually came to be involved in the Mortal Kombat tournament. The story also sheds quite a bit of light on Midway's newest addition to the fighting series, MK4, specifically the new characters Quan Chi and Shinnok.

Basically, MKM plays like an MK game except that instead of fighting in the confines of an arena, you are free to run around and hop on platforms. The controls are identical to MK3, except that a button for picking up items and turning around has been added. Sub-Zero's MK3 combos remain intact. His special moves are also in there, but they must be earned through experience points. In the first level, you'll likely learn the ice blast and slide moves. Later on, Sub will gain the ice clone, a diagonal ice blast that freezes jumping enemies, a running ice move that freezes enemies on contact, and more. But you can't simply freeze people over and over again - each special move takes up a little bit of your ice meter, which recharges at a fairly slow rate. Some of the later special moves take up nearly all your meter, so use them wisely.

The graphics in MKM look very washed out. The characters are large, but move jerkily. Some of the backgrounds look decent, but many of them appear very flat and, again, extremely washed out. The PlayStation version's FMV has been replaced with still photos and text, losing all of the PlayStation version's character in the process. The game's sound, in general, is pretty dull and muffled. The music in the Mortal Kombat series has always been terrific, but the N64 lacks the storage space required to render the PlayStation version's soundtrack effectively.

The game controls quite shoddily, which has come to be expected from an N64 game with any shred of a fighting-game-style setup. For a game that requires such precise jumping and fighting, the N64 controller simply isn't up to the task.

The game's perspective causes a few problems here and there. Shinnok's Bridge is a perfect example, as you're expected to make more than a few blind-faith jumps into the unknown in order to find a platform that is below the screen's line of sight. Also, the game is pretty short, relying on a set number of lives and continues to provide the game's extreme level of difficulty. This one is only for the hard-core MK fans who don't already own PlayStations.